Six Reasons You May Still Be Unemployed

I am well aware that meeting with a recruiter doesn’t count as a “real interview” to some people. What I don’t understand is why that perception continues to exist when recruiters have direct access to the hiring managers.

As I wrote last week, first impressions count. The first impression an employee makes is no less important than the one an employer makes. Therefore, it is worth reiterating a few basic rules of job searching and interviewing.

Hiring managers and recruiters know that you have probably sent your resume in response to more job openings this week than you have fingers. Yes, you are fed up of filling out those redundant and inane online applications, and no, you haven’t received a single confirmation that your resume has been reviewed by a live person, but now is not the time to get sloppy.

Stop making it easy to be rejected.

It boggles the mind, but here are real life examples of situations still occurring during the job application and interview process:

1) Both you and your significant other may be unemployed, they may have just repossessed one of your cars and your kids may be sick, but don’t tell the interviewer that. Seriously. They don’t want to know that information and now that they do, they’re thinking, “this person will be unreliable” (no transportation), “is desperate” (which is never good in any situation), “doesn’t have good interpersonal skills” (no filter) and “can’t be trusted with sensitive information” (you’re telling a complete stranger about your personal problems so what would you do with company information?)

2) Make sure your resume is error-free. Whoever said there is no such thing as perfection did not have to look for a job. It’s not just about spelling and grammatical errors. The general look and feel needs to convey professionalism and a mastery of word-processing software. If your margins don’t line up, your spacing is off, the font looks strange, the typeface is too small or too big—your resume tells your potential employer you can’t master the most basic of writing functions.

3) Cover letters are necessary. You hate writing them. You think no one reads them. You think it’s an outdated practice. Stop making excuses and write a good one. It should be succinct. This is your opportunity to showcase your ability to convey an important point in a few sentences. If you cannot give three really good reasons why you are perfect for the job, why should a potential employer take the time to do it?

4) This one is the most basic of rules. You learned it when you were in diapers. Your parents drilled it into you–Don’t lie.

I know you’re thinking everyone lies on a job interview and that no one would get hired if we didn’t all lie just a little. Unfortunately, you’re not wrong. Sixty-nine percent of people may lie on their job application, but what is most important is that you don’t give an employer another reason to remove you from the process. It’s difficult enough to get the job interview, so don’t screw it up by lying about your skills, your credit, your criminal history, etc.

Know the company! Find out the types of questions an interviewer may ask, and then know the questions they will definitely ask because they relate to the job. Be ready with well thought out answers.

5) The difficulty of obtaining an interview has been demonstrated over the past few years of the slow economy so for Pete’s sake, and yours, be on time. Period. You know lateness to an interview shows you don’t value the interviewer’s time, you don’t value the career opportunity, you’re unreliable, you don’t plan well . . . the list goes on and on.

6) Thank you notes are necessary and they’re expected. Not sending one tells the interviewer you’re just not that into them. Snail mail versus email is a debate for another time in another place, but send one that is free of spelling errors and is grammatically-correct.

The next time you hear, “unfortunately we chose a candidate whose skills were a better fit for the position” you would like that to be the truth and not a politically correct excuse used to disguise the fact that your resume is now sitting in the trash can.

Owner of The Gordon Group, an executive recruiter and job coach, Stacey supports diversity initiatives and gender equality by helping companies increase the diversity of their candidate pool. She also coaches professionals to confidently communicate their best-selves in their interviews. Stacey is the author of “The Successful Interview: 99 Questions to Ask and Answer (and Some You Shouldn’t)” and has created career workshops for organizations that support women and the long-term unemployed.

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Comments

Great advice, Stacey! I’d add to this “do your research.” Google the company and your interviewer/s for goodness sakes. It takes all of five minutes to know as much about the company’s interests (needs, desires, preferences, priorities, values, performance, profitability, attitudes toward the future and the like) as your interviewer is likely to. Then sell yourself as the perfect candidate.

Stacey and I were talking about this over lunch yesterday. Employers are looking for the PERFECT employee because they – like the guy on the couch with the channel changer – believe they can find him or her. That’s ridiculous, of course, and often companies give up their search for a new candidate and the hiring partner or manager says “we just can’t find a qualified candidate.”

For heaven’s sakes be the perfect candidate and no you don’t have to lie to be the one – you just need to frame your actual wisdom, skill, education and experience as being the perfect fit.

Go get ‘em champs! Profits are way, way up and new jobs lag behind. Believe in yourself. You can do it! And, if you knew Stacey Gordon, you’d know that SOME recruiters are also job coaches. Find one who fits that bill and help get the country back to work.